The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1887-06-19

Ef--zHAW tive life seemed not
his habits. At present the mine was his only
| mistress, claiming his entire time, exasperat-
ing him with tickleness, but still requiring
| that supreme devotion of which his nature
was capable 1t is possible that Miss Carmen
saw this too, and So set about with feminine
tact, if not to supplement, at least TO make
her rival less peItinas lou and absorbing.
| Apart from this object, s.he. zealoJsly labored
in her profession, yet with snail pecuniary
result, fea4. Local art was ut u discount in
| California. The scenery of tho country had
nos yet become famous; rather it was re-
| served for certain eastern artist, already
famous, to make it so; and people cared little
for tho roproluction, under their very noses,
of that \. .lieh they saw continually with their
| Ownc and valued not. So that little Mistress
| Carmen was fain to divert her artist soul to
| support heT plump little material body: and
made divers excursions into the regions of
ceramic ert, painting On velvot, illuminating
missals, decorating china, and the Ike.
| have in my possession so.le wax GoNers-a
startling fuctzia and q bewildering dahIia-
| sold for a mere pfttancs by this little lady,
whose pictures lately took the prize at a
foreign exhibition, shortly after she had been
half starved by "A California public, and
claimed by a California press as its fostered
child of genius.
OF ths-s- struggles ami triumphs Thatcher
had no EnowIe,Iye; yet he perhaps more
startled than me would own to himself when,
one December day, he received this dispatch:
~Cotne to Washington at once.-Carmen
De Haro.-
Carmen De lfaroT | grieve to state that
such the preOccupation of this man,
elected by fate to IT, the hero of the solitary
arnatory episode of this story, that for
moment ne could not recall her. When the
honest little figure that had 50 manfully stood
up against him, and had proved her sex by
afterwards running away from him, came
back at last to his memory, he was at first
mystified and then self reproachfuL He hal
been, he felt vaguely, untrue to himself He
had been reniss to the self-confessed daughter
of his enemy. Yet why should she telegraph
to him, and what was she doing in Washing
ton. To all these speculations it is to be said
to his credit that he looked for no sentimental
or romantic answer Royal Thatcher was
naturally modest and -depreciating in his
relations to the other sex, as indeed most men
VINO apt 10 outftSoluA "iIh "oihiSi
generally are despite a vast degree of super
animated bosh to the contrary. To the half
dozen women who are startled by sheer au-
dacity into submission there are scores who
are piqued by "A self respectful patience; and
where "a woman has to do half the wooing,
she generally makes pretty sure thing of it,
In his bewilderment Thatcher had over
looked letter lying or his table. 1t was
from his Washington lawyer. The conclud-
ina paragraph caught his eye-"Perhaps it
would be well if you came here yourself.
Roscommon is here; and they say there is
niece of Garcia's, lately appeared, who Is
likely to get up a strong social sympathy for
tb. old Mexican don't know that they expect
to prove anything by her; but I'm told she Is
attractive and clever, and has enlisted the
sympathies of the delegation" Thatcher laid
the letter down a little Indignantly Strong
men are quite rs liable weak women are
to sudden Inconsistencies ON any question they
NAV have in common What right had this
poor little bud he had cherished-he was quite
satisfied now that he had cherished her, and
really had suffered from her absence what
right had she to suddenly blossom in the sun
shine of power to be-, perhaps, plucked and
with his lawyer that she was in any way con
nected with his enemies; he trusted to her
masculine loyalty that far. But here was
something vaguely dangerous to the feminine
min,l-position, fiattery, power. He was al
most as firmly satisfied now that he had been
wronged and neglected as he had been POSI-
tive a few moments before that he had been
remiss in his attention. The irritation, al
though momentary, enough To decide this
strong man He telegraphed to San Fran
cisco: and, having missed the steamer, Sc
cured an overland passage to W Washington;
thought better of it, and partly changed his
mimi IN hour after the ticket was purchased;
but. manIike, once having made practical
step in wrong direction, be kept on rather
than admit an inconsistency to himself. Yet
he ' as not entirely satisfied that his journey
was n business one. The impulsive, weak lit
tie Mistress Carmen had prudentiy scored
ONE against the strong man.
Only a small part of the present great
t,-anscontinental railway at this time had
been built, and was but piers at either end OF
dcsolate and wild expanse as Yet unbridge'i-
Whom the overland traveller left the rail at
Reno. he Icf a. it were, civilization with IL
~.
thu, res. of his road only the old emiSrant
trail travelled by coaches of the Overland
companv. Excepting part of Devils Can
Won. the way was unpicturesque and Nat;
and the passage of the Rocky mountains, far
from suggesting the alleged poetry of that
r,e,ion- was only a reminder of those sterile
distances of "a level New England landscape
The Journey was dreary monotony that
H. x
never Amounting to actual accident or incl
dent, but utterly destructive To all nervous
tissue. Insanity often supervened- I'm the
third tiay out" said Hank Monk, driver,
speaking casually but charitably OF a ~1are
ION the third day out after axlng no emo
of questions and getting no answers, he TOOK
To chewing straws that he picked outer
the cushion, and kussin' TO hisseH from
that very day knew it was all over Win
him and handed him over TO his friends at
sShv Ann strapped to the back seat, anu
ravin' and c,issin' at Ben Holiday, the gen
tlamanIv proprietorr 1t Is presumed that
the unfortunate tourists indignation was ex-
cited at the late Mr.. Benjamin Holiday, then
tho ,,,-,,nrietnr of the Iine-an evidence OF his
insanity that no one who knew that large
hearted, faStidiOus and elegantly -cutured
Californian. since allied to foreign nobility,
will for a moment doubt.
Mr. ROYAL Thatcher was too old and expe-
rienced a mountaineer to 90 aught but accept
patiently and cynically his brother Califor-
MAN method OF increasing his profits As II
was generally understood that any one who
came from California by that route had some
dark design the victim received little SYM
pathy Thatcher's equable temperament and
insiornitable will stood him in good stead, and
helped him cheerfully in this emergency He
ate his scant meals, and otherwise took care Of